Knitting-machine.



H. D. SHIMER.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24, 1912.

1,081,410. Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

J2 Z9 fMZi Z ?W f7/ H. D. SHIMER.

KNITTING MACHINE.

, APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24, 1912.

Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNTTED @TATFS PATENT @FFTCE.

HARRY D. SHIIVIER, OF MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOB TG SHIIVIER, POWELL & 001V!- PANY, A PARTNERSHIP COMPOSED OF M. H. POVIELL, W. C. POWELL, LOUIS LUNSFOR-D, WM. DUQUETTE, LOUIS BROWN, AND HARRY SHIMER, OF MUSKEGON,

MICHIGAN.

KNITTING-MACHINE.

LQSILAJG.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRY D. SHIMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Muskegon, county of Muskegon, State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Knitting-Machines, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to stop-motion devices for knitting machines and has for its object an effective device for stopping a knitting machine when a hole appears in the web. Holes in the web are almost impossible to detect with the eye because of the speed of travel of the web and there are few, if any, devices that are certain enough in their action to be practical.

My invention comprises a shield member having a pair of depressed portions over which the web stretches taut and in one of which an oscillatory finger is caught by an imperfect web and in the other of which the web frees itself after oscillating the finger and stopping the machine. This finger is unactuated when the web is perfect, but as soon as a defective portion of the web passes over this finger, the hole drops over the finger and oscillates it so that it stops the machine.

In the drawings :Figure 1, is a sectional elevation of a portion of a knitting machine with the stop device attached thereto. Fig.

2, is the bottom plan view of the stop device showing the finger in the position it occupies when the machine is running and a perfect web is passing over the spreader. Fig. 3, is a bottom plan view of the stop device showing the finger in the position which it occupies when the machine has been stopped by an imperfect web. Fig. 4:, is a sectional de tail on the line 44 of Fig. 2. This figure shows a perfect web passing over the finger. Fig. 5, is a sectional detail on the line H of Fig. 2. This figure shows an imperfect Patented Dec. raters.

Serial No. 705,373.

Referring to g- 1, the main operative parts of a knitting machine will be seen. A, A, are arms that support the operative parts of the knitting machine. These arms are attached to any convenient standards or uprights (not shown). These arms support a collar 1, which has a central aperture through which passes the hollow shaft 2. The upper portion of this hollow shaft is threaded at 3. Upon this thread runs a hand-nut 4 which may be turned by the handles 5. The bottom of this hand-nut flares out at 6 into an annular flange that rests upon the top face of the collar 1. By revolving the hand-nut 4t, the shaft 2 is forced up or down for a purpose hereinafter to be described.

7, is a cam-disk that, in the type of machine that I have shown, is fixed.

8, is the dial that carries a portion of the needles and which is arranged to revolve about the hollow shaft 2 which causes the needles 9 that engage in cam races of the cam-disk 7 to move in and out to do their assigned work. The cylinder 10 is also a rotatable member and is provided with needles 11, which are actuated by a cam (not shown) to move up and down and do the portion of the work assigned to them. 12 is a hub which is attached to the dial 8, either integrally or by other fastening means. This hub revolves upon a loose disk 13 which is also free to revolve about the hollow shaft 2 and rest upon the collar 14 that supports the stop device. This collar 14 is supported on the threaded lower end of the hollow shaft 2 by a lock-nut 15 and it is also provided with a set-screw 16 that tends to secure it in any given position of adjustment. By turning the hand nut 4:

the position of the dial and spreader with respect to the cam-disk may be regulated.

The stop device comprises a spreader 17 in form approximating the segment of a circle. This spreader 17 has a web portion 18, through which engages a screw 19 carrying a nut 19 This screw 19 passes through the bifurcated arm 20 of the collar 14 and by loosening the nut the screw may be moved to any position in the slot between the two forked portions of the arm. This allows of the adjustment of the spreader to and from the collar. The rim of the spreader is formed into a tubular portion 21, which is slotted on both sides for the passage of a finger 22, so that the finger can oscillate across the spreader from the position in which it is shown in Fig. 2 to the position in which it is shown in Fig. 3. At each end of the rim of the spreader, a pair of extended portions or humps 23 and 24: are located. The hump 23 serves to guidethe web as it first touches the spreader. The web then passes over the extended portion or hump 23 and strikes the middle of the spreader, as at 25 and draws across the hump 24: as it leaves the spreader. It is thus seen that there are three points of con= tact of the web upon the spreader, at the humps 23 and 2 1 and at the center 25. At the intervening points on the spreader the web is stretched taut and does not touch the spreader.

The web 13, which is in the form of a tube, travels spirally as it is knitted by the machine and a given point on this web drops down about one eighth of an inch at each revolution, so that every point in the web passes over the spreader and over the end of the finger 18. Figs. 1, 5, 6, and 7 show the position of the web over the humps on the spreader and the finger. In Fig. 4, a perfect web is shown passing over the finger 22. The presence of the finger causes the web to protrude outward slightly at 27. In Fig. 5, a web in which a hole is formed is shown passing over the finger 22. The fact that the web is stretched taut over the parts of the spreader that it contacts causes the finger to instantly protrude through the hole and the web drops about the finger while the rear edge of the hole in the web strikes the finger and is caught on the slight hook at the end of the finger which carries it across the slot to the position shown in Fig. 3. This travel of the finger across the slot when engaged by a hole, is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The finger 22 has an ad justable connection to the arm 28 that is integral with the drip-cup 29. This is effected by the slot 30 and the screw 31. The drip-cup 29 is fastened to the spindle 32 which passes through the hollow shaft 2 to with a head 33, into which fits a plug 3A that carries an arm 35 which leads to a control device to stop the machine. This control device is no part of my invention and as there are a number in this art, any of which could be used with my stop-motion device, I have not shown it in the drawings or described it. The coiled spring 36 keeps the finger normally at the end of the spreader at which the web first contacts.

The web frees itself from the finger by reason of the second hump 24 as this directs the web in such a direction as to pull it off the slight hook of the finger when the finger has reached the posit-ion shown in Fig. 3. The finger has then already performed its work having tripped a control device that stops the machine. When the web and finger disengage the finger immediately returns to its initial position under the influence of the spring 36.

My invention can be used with equal success on a type of knitting machine in which the cam-disk revolves and the dial, cylinder and web are stationary. In such a machine a few modifications will have to be made by the mechanic to adapt it for the reversal of the parts that move and are stationary, but the main features of my invention will remain the same.

I am aware that it is not new to use a finger which catches or is supposed to catch a hole in the web, as for instance, fingers have been designed which are adapted to shoot through the web when they encounter a hole therein, but these fingers have been found in actual practice to be impractical, as they do not respond quick enough to catch the hole with certainty.

What I claim is 1. In a knitting machine, a stop-motion device, having in combination, a spreader provided with a pair of depressed portions, an oscillatory finger adapted to oscillate through each of said depressed portions and normally resting in the depressed portion near the end of the spreader with which the web first contacts, the said finger being adapted to be caught by an imperfect web passing over the depressed portion and oscillated to the other depressed portion which is arranged to allow the web to free itself from the finger, substantially as described.

2. A stop-motion device, having in combi nation, a spreader provided with three points where the web contacts, an oscillatory finger movable between the two outside points of contact, whereby one of the outside points of contact serves to drop an imperfect web into engagement with the finger and the other outside point of contact serves to free the web from the finger, substantially as described.

the top of the shaft, where it terminates 3. A stop-motion device, having in com bination, a spreader provided with a hump after being freed from the Web, substantially at each end and an intervening point of conas described. 10 tact an oscillatory finger movable from one In testimony whereof, I sign this specifihump to the other and adapted to be caught cation in the presence of two Witnesses.

' by an imperfect Web passing over one of HARRY D. SHIMER.

the humps and adapted to be freed from the Witnesses: web as it passes over the other hump, and LEWIS LUNsFoRD, means for returning it to its initial position VVM. E. DUQUETTE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

